Hope you are all doing fine. This week I’d like to share a nugget inspired by a story written by Gradly that I came across.

One day, a rich dad took his son on a trip to the village. He wanted to show him how poor someone can be. They spent time on the farm of a poor family. On their return from the trip, the dad asked his son, “How was the trip?” “It was great dad!” the son replied. “What did you learn from our trip?” dad asked. The son answered…

I saw that we have one dog, they have four….

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, they have a creek that has no end…

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have stars at night….

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon…

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight…

We have servants that serve us but they serve others

We buy foods, they grow theirs…

We have walls to protect us…they have friends to protect them…

We have television, they spend their time with family…

We have the world, they have God.

The boy’s father was speechless while his son talked…and realized how right his son was. Then his son added…Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are.

Hi friends! First of all wishing you a bright & prosperous 2017! This week I would like to share a nugget that came to mind quite out of the blue! I was using my laptop when suddenly it hanged and wouldn’t respond to my inputs. Though I badly wanted to complete what I was doing, the computer page remained frozen. After trying a few more times to undo what I had done & retrieve the data, I had to give up. Nothing else could be done. The computer had to be rebooted. I had to now wait patiently as the PC shut down and restarted. This was taking more time than usual and I found myself hoping and praying that I would not have lost the data and could just resume from where I had stopped. Fortunately, after waiting for some time, I found the data and could continue my work at a quicker speed. That lit a bulb in my mind and I came up with this week’s nugget! Hope you like it 🙂

Caught up in the rat race of life, we try to do as much as we can in the time available. As a result, we end up becoming “human doings” rather than ‘human beings’. As in the case of the computer, sometimes we too need a break to unwind & reboot. Being aware of this, most of us wait for our annual leave to plan vacations & spend time relaxing but often these vacations actually end up making us more stressed/busy so that we find ourselves longing to get back to our normal routine!

As we all know, January is the best time for New Year Resolutions. Let’s try something different this year. Instead of adding more things to our ‘TO DO’ List, let’s take an inventory of our activities & then remove some things /prioritize the things that are really important. Let’s reboot our Laptop, our TV and even ourselves. It’s high time for a vacation for the Soul!

Just like my computer worked better and quicker after the reboot, I’m certain that when we are able to reboot our body, soul and spirit, our overall efficiency will definitely improve and we will begin to enjoy our life. Happy rebooting!

Nugget of Life: “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including YOU!”- Anne Lamott

Hope you are all doing well. It’s been a while since I’ve penned down something. These days with winter setting in, we can see some clear changes in the environment around us. The days seem shorter and the nights seem longer. It is indeed a sight to behold different kinds of birds flying surprisingly rather low and in large numbers across the sky and watching them has become my latest hobby! 🙂 Let me share with you a few thoughts that come to mind when I think of them! I have categorized them into 6 Fs. Let us see them one by one!

Flexible – The birds are flexible. They are not rigid in their flight. They change their patterns of flying according to the others in the flock. They are not stubborn or egoistical but are focused on their destination. We can learn from them how to be flexible especially when working in a team.

Fun – Though their flight is headed towards a particular place, the birds do not forget to have fun on the way. They don’t forget to sing and there is a grace and speed when they fly. They are not bored or lazy but enjoy the flying. Similarly, we too should ensure that we have kept enough margin for hobbies, rest and relaxation in our To Do Lists. When we can make our work fun by innovation and using our creativity and whatever talents we may have, it is then that we will actually begin to enjoy our work.

Fit – The bodies of birds are usually fit for flight. If they are overweight, they will be slowed down and will not be able to keep pace and fly in sync with the other birds. The same thing can be applied to us too. Being fit gives us the stamina and positive energy we require to fly high in life.

Flocks – Birds usually fly in flocks. As the saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together.” We too should surround ourselves with the kind of people who have a similar vision and passion for life as we do. There is strength in unity but we need to make sure to associate with the right kind of people as we can learn from others and attain success more quickly than if we tried alone.

Fearless – The birds are fearless as they flap their wings and go higher and higher even against the wind. Their bodies are streamlined which enables them to fight against the air resistance by reducing friction so that the air will just glide past them without blocking it. Same thing applies to us. What seems to us as our weakness may actually become our biggest blessing if we overcome fear and do what we can.Sometimes we may even have to ‘do it afraid’ but small victories will help us gain confidence to do better the next time.

Free – When thinking of a bird, the first phrase that comes to most of us is “as free as a bird!” That means we are completely free to do what we want without any worries. Most of the time we are not free because we are in the PAST or in the FUTURE. The antidote to this is to LIVE IN THE MOMENT- Present Tense! 🙂

Hope you are doing fine. This week I’d like to share a nugget that many of us could relate to. Firstly let’s define what an acapella really is: Acapella according to Internet slang refers to “vocal music without instruments.” The first time I heard this kind of music I was flabbergasted. Since then I have been a big fan of all kinds of acapella music.

Click here to hear the first acapella song I heard. It’s made from an old Hindi film song. The song was brilliantly remade using sounds made by voice, mouth and body only. Can you imagine, there are no musical instruments used in making it! Amazing right? 🙂

This week I’d like to share how much we too are like Acapella singers in our life as we do the many roles handed over to us- a daughter/son, a sister/bro, a spouse, a parent either by choice or chance, a homemaker / a career person, a friend, a writer, teacher, story teller, a cook, a cleaner, a singer, a believer… the list goes on endlessly…. And we can keep adding or subtracting from it. Just like how in acapella, we mainly sing vocals but simultaneously we also imitate the other instruments or sounds to give it the effect of hearing the original track , in life too we may be called to play several other roles in addition to our main role. Just like the acapella singers focus one by one on each sound and then synchronize it with the other sounds similarly we need to give our 100% dedication to each role assigned to us and do it with a spirit of excellence. Later on, we will be able to manage our time and prioritize the things according to their urgency. Sometimes we will have to postpone or even drop some activities from our list in order to live a balanced & stress-free life. Many times we may have to even sacrifice certain privileges just in order to see a smile on another’s face. At these times it may be tempting to ignore ourselves or others, the optimal method is to be able to know when and where to draw the line. Prayer & planning as well as delegation & brain storming with friends & family helps us to do this. Once we have drawn a blueprint, it is essential as far as possible to stick to it. However we need to be flexible enough to incorporate changes as we move along.

The final result will be the acapella where our different roles are played out successfully & now we can hear the lovely song played in our own unique version. Surely, there will be mixed responses and reactions to the music of our life but as long as we have tried our best and even enjoy or like what we have done, we can lean back and nod our heads to the trendy beat of the song we have always loved!

Today I’d like to share a nugget from the life of Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC as it’s more popularly known! 🙂 He later acted as the company’s brand ambassador. His name and image are still symbols of the company.

When we purchase a bucket of KFC and sit down and enjoy a bite, do we even know what it cost that dear man to reach it to your hand?

A story behind something so small as a piece of fried chicken? Yes, friends sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and once we know the story behind the scenes we will then hold with great value that which we so easily take for granted.

Colonel Sanders was born in 1890 & grew up on a farm in Indiana. The hardships of his life caused him to mature long before time. He spent the first half of his life working a series of odd jobs. At 40 years he had to change dozens of occupations. But nothing was working out for him. For a long time Sanders was in despair. Most of his life already passed, he was disappointed in life. And, of course, he wanted to change it. So after serious thought about the location of it, he bought a service station in Kentucky. Along this road there was constant traffic from all over and the flow of customers was endless. With little in terms of means at his disposal, Sanders traveled door to door to houses and restaurants all over his local area. He wanted to partner with someone to help promote his chicken recipe. However, he was met with little enthusiasm. So he started travelling by car to different restaurants and cooked his fried chicken on the spot for restaurant owners. If the owner liked the chicken, they would enter into a handshake agreement to sell the Colonel’s chicken. Legend has it that Colonel Sanders heard 1009 “no”s before he heard his first “yes”.

Sanders’ pursuit was never really about becoming rich, but rather to share his food with the world. That’s why he constantly grumbled and swore about the more profitable but lower quality gravy that the corporate KFC began producing. “With the Colonel, it wasn’t money that mattered, it was artistic talent.”

So you see friends, what really matters in life is what is your real motivation or purpose behind the things you do in life. That’s what makes all the difference!

Nugget of Life: “There is a plan and a purpose, a value to every life, no matter what its location, age, gender or disability.” – Sharron Angle

This week, I’d like to share a wonderful poem gone viral on the Internet. Its wisdom from a 92 year old woman. The best part of being ready to learn from her is that we can learn in a few moments what took her 92 years to learn! 🙂

“I looked in the mirror and what did I see, but a little old lady peering back at me
With bags and sags and wrinkles and wispy white hair, and I asked my reflection,
‘How did you get there?’
You once were straight and vigorous and now you’re stooped and weak, when I tried so hard to keep you from becoming an antique
My reflection’s eyes twinkled as she solemnly replied, ‘You’re looking at the gift wrap and not the jewel inside.
A living gem and precious, of unimagined worth
Unique and true, the real you, the only you on Earth
The years that spoil your gift wrap with other things more cruel, should purify and strengthen, and polish up that jewel
So focus your attention on the inside, not the out
On being kinder, wiser, more content and more devout
Then, when your gift wrap’s stripped away your jewel will be set free, to radiate God’s glory throughout eternity.'”

Friends, all we have is a maximum of 70 , 80 or at the most 90 odd years. And who has any guarantee of that? If we were to breathe our last breath today, could we say without a shadow of doubt that our jewel was so well polished that its sparkle actually lit the way for another? Will there be even a single person who would say with tears in their eyes that we had made a difference in their life? Friend, that’s what life is really about! That’s when we have ceased to exist and started to live!

Nugget of Life: “Leave nothing but footprints, Take nothing but pictures, Kill nothing but time!”

This week I’d like to share life lessons from the sunflower. We all know how a sunflower looks, it’s a bright yellow flower resembling the sun. It has pretty yellow petals and a brown center which is actually composed of little florets. The sunflower belongs to the genus Helianthus annus. “Helios” meaning sun in Greek and “annus” meaning annual. The name is believed to have originated from the flower’s connection to the sun both in looks and behavior!

The part that intrigues me is that the sunflower always faces the sun. The sunflower is called a mystical flower which follows the sun from the east to the west from its rising to its setting. This phenomenon of solar tracking by the immature sunflowers is called heliotropism. The real reason for it being its narrow neck where most of the cell expansion occurs. This takes place at different rates on different sides of the stem. So, in the morning, most of this growth is on the West side of the stem so the flower tilts to the East; later on in the day we find stronger & faster growth on the north side, so the flower becomes tilted and so on until the evening when it ends up facing West. At night, the growth is on the West side so at the beginning of the day it is facing East again.

Life lessons:

1) The narrow neck of the flower is the actual reason for the sun-ward tilt – In life too we may have to go through narrow/hard areas or have weaknesses that cause us to turn towards God for strength.

2) It is the immature flowers that actually do solar tracking, once matured, the sunflowers no longer exhibit heliotropic behavior as the stem is generally frozen in an eastward facing position.-Similarly as we progress in life, our inconsistencies slowly begin to reduce & we begin to develop steady & consistent patterns of behavior which keep us stable in our faith. Like the old sunflower, no matter whether we can see the light or not, we remain steadfast in our Eastward location. We no longer vacillate from our position in uncertainty as we have now come to know the heart of God so intimately that we know for sure that He will come through for us no matter what we face. So dear friend, let me encourage you today, no matter how hard your present moment is, hang in there, don’t lose hope. Things always get worse before they get better. It’s always darkest before the dawn! Face the sun and stay immovable, the sun will undoubtedly come around the next morning and you will be glad that you stood your ground. 🙂

Nugget of Life : “Hope is like the sun which as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.”-Samuel Smiles